According to the April 22 article, “Paine Field to siphon Sea-Tac flights?” the Private Enterprise Coalition of Snohomish County believes that 20 percent of Sea-Tac passenger traffic could fly from Paine Field. Which translates to 2.4 million passengers flying out of Paine Field of the nearly 30 million passengers who fly out of Sea-Tac annually.
The coalition states that you could be at Paine Field in 20 minutes. This may be true, but where do you park once you get there? Now my math may be a little rusty but if you take 2.4 million passengers and you divide that by 365 days, that comes to 6,575 vehicles going to or from the airport daily. Even if this number were to be cut in half by someone taking the airporter to the airport, there is just so much capacity on U.S. 2 and I-5. In addition, Boeing is looking at an increased workforce if they get the U.S. Air Force tanker contract at Paine Field.
How does the coalition solve the logistical problems of increased traffic to the airport, space for employee, short-term and long-term parking, shuttle services, rental automobiles, and designing the surrounding road network to handle the 6,575 vehicles a day? Don’t forget to factor in a number for delivery trucks that will service the occupants of the new terminal that will need to be built – somewhere.
Is there a potential impact on Boeing’s testing and flight operations? Will this impact the parking of their aircraft while undergoing tests? Will this impact their workforce trying to get to work, let alone everyone else who works in the area? Where does the funding come from for all of this? Give the community answers to these questions first and then let the dialogue begin.
Pat Connelly
Everett
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